EU leaders considering sanctions against Russia

Moscow/Paris, Aug 28 (RIA Novosti) European Union (EU) countries are considering imposing sanctions on Russia over the Georgia crisis, the French foreign minister said Thursday.”Sanctions are being considered, as are many other measures,” said Bernard Kouchner who had earlier said that sanctions against Moscow were not on the agenda.

Kouchner, however, did not give details of any such possible move against Moscow.

France, which holds the EU rotating presidency, has called an emergency summit of the grouping Monday to review relations with Russia.

Russia Tuesday officially recognized Georgia’s breakaway regions South Ossetia and Abkhazia despite Western warnings, saying the move was needed to protect the regions against Tbilisi’s Aug 8 incursions into South Ossetia.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov commented that the Russian authorities had heard nothing about any EU sanctions against Russia.

Moscow insists that it is in full compliance with a six-point peace deal hammered out in mid-August between Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy.

The terms of the plan allow Russia to take extra security measures to prevent further violence in the region. Three weeks after the conflict, Russia maintains peacekeepers in a ‘buffer zone’ between Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Moscow has said Georgia lost its right to Abkhazia and South Ossetia when it launched its ground and air offensive against South Ossetia’s capital Tshkinvali, killing large numbers of civilians, mainly Russian nationals.